Installing solar

[timt]

I want to install solar to charge the batteries in my motorhome, and I was planning to wire this directly in to the battery (using a charge regulator).

The motorhome has a Electroblock EBL99 transformer/rectifier. I notice that the frount of this unit has connections marked for soloar and soloar regulator.

Does anyone know what these are for and how they relate to the the solar. Should I be wiring the solar into the EBL unit?

TimT

 

[Geo]

Hi Tim the operating and instalation guide is available from Schaudt in english
facility does excist to run the solar panels through the Electro bloc, see pic,
you can of coarse do it as you suggest
Geo

 

[JRa]

I want to install solar to charge the batteries in my motorhome, and I was planning to wire this directly in to the battery (using a charge regulator).

The motorhome has a Electroblock EBL99 transformer/rectifier. I notice that the frount of this unit has connections marked for soloar and soloar regulator.

Does anyone know what these are for and how they relate to the the solar. Should I be wiring the solar into the EBL unit?

TimT

Hello timt,

Don't forget to interconnect a solar-regulator between your solar panel(s) and the battery or the EBL99.

You can connect the outlet of the regulator (controller) directly to block 6 or 7 of your EBL99.
I took block 7 myself and made an interconnection of a 10 A diode in series with a fuse of 3 A from pin 2 of block7 to pin 1 of block 2, to refill/maintain the starter-battery.
(diodes cause a voltagedip of 0.7V - so if your your starterbattery will never suck your household battery if the latter isn't filled op 100%.

That's the way I constructed it... Never had to go to 220V socket any more again


Jos

 

[JRa]

Hello timt,

Don't forget to interconnect a solar-regulator between your solar panel(s) and the battery or the EBL99.

You can connect the outlet of the regulator (controller) directly to block 6 or 7 of your EBL99.
I took block 7 myself and made an interconnection of a 10 A diode in series with a fuse of 3 A from pin 2 of block7 to pin 1 of block 2, to refill/maintain the starter-battery.
(diodes cause a voltagedip of 0.7V - so if your your starterbattery will never suck your household battery if the latter isn't filled op 100%.

That's the way I constructed it... Never had to go to 220V socket any more again


Jos

Link Removed

sorry forgot to stick it to my post earlier, mea maxima culpa !!!

 

[pappajohn]

cant help with the electroblock but i connected mine, via a 10amp regulator, to the wires coming from the onboard charger/power supply to control panel.
this has the effect of doing exactly the same as the charger/power supply, charging either cab and house (2 x 110ah) batteries depending on the control panel switch position.

works for me :thumb:

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[Vennwood]

Just to share a relevant experience with anyone fitting or having fitted solar panels.

When we purchased our MH we had 2 solar panels fitted by a well known dealer in the North West - all worked well. Yesterday I had a guy around to give me a price for adding another panel. He was horrified at the wiring carried out by the dealer. He said the wiring was much too thin and that we must be loosing up to 25% of our output. He further added that the fitting brackets were connected incorrectly for the type of panel.

To be fair we had been happy with the panels but wanted a bit more power for winter use. 25% might have been enough.

Moral of this story - make sure you use the correct size wire if you want to get the best out of your investment.

 

[scotjimland]

Moral of this story - make sure you use the correct size wire if you want to get the best out of your investment.

Good advice, :thumb:

I've seen some really bad advice on this topic by people who have no idea what they are on about.. they assume that if a 2.5mm cable can carry 20A at 230v it will be adequate for a panel only giving out 10A at 17v .. but when calculating cable size the voltage and length and whether AC or DC must be considered ..

For example, 10A solar array with a cable run of 4mt and allowing a max volt drop of 5% requires 25sq.mm cable..

Don't guess, use a cable sizing calculator .. such as Link Removed

Why spend ££££££ on panels then skimp on cable, oh:

 

[JeanLuc]

You can connect the solar panels to the EBL99 via a Schaudt solar regulator. This is what the input block on the EBL is designed to accept. The system should then be fully integrated and I believe, keeps the vehicle battery topped up as well as the leisure battery(ies).

<<Link Removed>>

There is a vary good account of doing this on "the other" MHF forum !!! posted by a guy called Davesport (if you are a member there).

Philip

 

[vicdicdoc]

Good advice, :thumb:
I've seen some really bad advice on this topic by people who have no idea what they are on about.. they assume that if a 2.5mm cable can carry 20A at 230v it will be adequate for a panel only giving out 10A at 17v .. but when calculating cable size the voltage and length and whether AC or DC must be considered ..

For example, 10A solar array with a cable run of 4mt and allowing a max volt drop of 5% requires 25sq.mm cable..

Don't guess, use a cable sizing calculator .. such as Link Removed

Why spend ££££££ on panels then skimp on cable, oh:

Jim,
I've a secondary solar panel which has been laying in my shed & I've decided to fit it to the roof on my van, it'll be at the rear of the van and will be approx 5 metres from the leisure batteries - this panel is only 15w and although I 'tried' to understand the wiring need from the 'wizard' you pointed to, I can't get my head around the size required :Wacko:
Vic

 

[scotjimland]

Jim,
I've a secondary solar panel which has been laying in my shed & I've decided to fit it to the roof on my van, it'll be at the rear of the van and will be approx 5 metres from the leisure batteries - this panel is only 15w and although I 'tried' to understand the wiring need from the 'wizard' you pointed to, I can't get my head around the size required :Wacko:
Vic

Hi Vic .

To keep the volt drop to an absolute minimum use 25sq.mm .. using this size the volt drop is only 0.01v

For solar panels, the size of the cable is determined by the length of the cable rather than the amps, the same size cable would take much larger panels.. in fact more than anyone could fit on their van roof .. so as with batteries, inverters etc., keeping the cable run as short as possible reduces the size of the cable required.

There is no danger in fitting smaller, you just lose efficiency.

Jim

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[Douglas]

If you are fitting the panels your self, consider making the fitting in such a way as to allow you to lift the panel/s up to face the sun at a better angel or even better lift them up and rotate them.

This is a little complicated I know but a panel that is laid flat only receives approx 1/3 the energy than one that follows the sun. If you then think that one panel could do the job of 3 it looks good on the wallet.

Doug...

 

[vicdicdoc]

Thanks for that Jim,
I'll try to get the correct cable for the length.
Vic

 

[pieterv]

Hi,

I have just finished fitting two panels and connected them to a Schaudt EBL99, via a regulator.

It shows you the amps on the A-meter, which is handy. It doesn't keep the vehicle battery topped up unless you have a regulator that is wired for that (like Schaudt's).

Pieter

 

[vicdicdoc]

. . . "they assume that if a 2.5mm cable can carry 20A at 230v it will be adequate for a panel only giving out 10A at 17v .. but when calculating cable size the voltage and length and whether AC or DC must be considered . . ."

For example, 10A solar array with a cable run of 4mt and allowing a max volt drop of 5% requires 25sq.mm cable..

Don't guess, use a cable sizing calculator .. such as Link Removed

Why spend ££££££ on panels then skimp on cable, oh:

Try as I did, I still can't find out the correct size cable I need for a run of 5m from a 15w solar panel- I went into Maplins and quoted 25sq mm . . they just looked at me blank !

 

[scotjimland]

Try as I did, I still can't find out the correct size cable I need for a run of 5m from a 15w solar panel- I went into Maplins and quoted 25sq mm . . they just looked at me blank !

Hi Vic

I've got conflicting information, AEI cables say 25 sqmm which is very expensive, (about £4 per mt.) .. so I double checked on a solar calculator site and they recommend 6 sq.mm .. with a 1% volt drop .. so I would go 6mm, the volt drop won't make a huge difference on that length of run..

Try any auto shop, they normally have it..

The calculator I used

and cable can also be bought here

Solar Energy & Wind Power Specialists -- www.solar-wind.co.uk -- Off Grid Power Systems

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